Monday, August 28, 2006

GOSHEN, Ind.
– In conducting his Maple Scholars research, Dawit Kebede, a
senior and peace, justice and conflict studies major, has been
breaking new ground in the unexplored topic of Christian and Muslim
relations in his home country. What he has found could have
implications for other ethnic conflicts around the world.

Maple Scholars
is an eight-week program that gives students the opportunity to
participate in independent research alongside Goshen College
faculty of various disciplines. Each scholar is paired with a
faculty member who works and supervises the individual to help
carry out their work. Kebede’s adviser was Jan Bender
Shetler, associate professor of history, who has extensive
knowledge and experience about that region of Africa, having most
recently led a Study-Service Term unit in spring 2005 to
Ethiopia.

“I got the
idea for this research while leading SST in Ethiopia, and was
really intrigued by what we heard from talking to people about the
Christian-Muslim relations in the country,” said Shetler.

Christians and
Muslims make up the majority of the religious people in Ethiopia,
and the two groups have lived together for thousands of years. In
1991, a new government took power and implemented a plan called
“ethnic federalism,” dividing Ethiopia into nine
different regions based on ethnicities. “Since then, there
has been a resurgence of religious and ethnic identity,” said
Kebede, who is from Ethiopia.

While preparing
for teaching a course in ethnic conflict, Shetler read a book by
Ashutosh Varshney, written in 2002, titled, “Ethnic Conflict
and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India” and wondered if
his theories could be applied to the Christian-Muslim relations in
Ethiopia. Varshney is a political science professor at the
University of Michigan who has extensively studied the connection
between ethnic conflict and civil life in cities in India.

“Varshney
said there is a connection between conflict and civic life,”
said Kebede. “He found that the more inter-ethnic
institutions there were that brought various groups together, the
less ethnic conflict there was. He’s the pioneer in this
belief, making a shift from studying why ethnic conflict exists, to
why ethnic peace exists.”

“With a
strong civic life,” said Shetler, “where the people are
talking with each other, if tension is building, they can go to one
another and dispel rumors and hopefully then keep the violence
down.”

Shetler wanted
to pursue Varshney’s theories with Ethiopia, however was not
sure who could help carry out the research. She was thrilled that
Kebede was interested in the topic and available. “ Dawit is
just perfect. He is Ethiopian, so he could look at the Amharic
sources,” said Shetler. “He is an articulate, bright
and driven student.”

Kebede searched
the Amharic newspapers from 1991 to 2005 and documented the ethnic
conflicts in Ethiopia. “Findings showed that there
wasn’t a real problem of ethnic conflict, despite this new
policy of ethnic federalism,” said Kebede. He found about 20
small individual conflicts over the course of 15 years, but none
had really escalated.

With this data,
Kebede believes Varshney’s theory is applicable to the
situation in Ethiopia. It is Ethiopia’s civic institutions,
or very local connections and ground organizations, that have
promoted social interaction among the two religious groups for
thousands of years.

Kebede and
Shetler were able to meet with Varshney to discuss their research.
“He was very interested in the project and helped us think
about how his theories fit and how they don’t,” Shetler
said. “He said, ‘You have to nail this and get an
article out.’”

Kebede
appreciated the opportunity to make the change from studying ethnic
conflict, to studying what people can learn from peaceful
societies. “I hope we might be able to apply this information
elsewhere, particularly to shed light on Africa,” he
said.

The research
done this summer, Shetler believes, could be a springboard for
Kebede’s future. “Dawit is a peace studies major, and
wants to go to grad school for peace studies and eventually teach,
pursue peace studies in Ethiopia,” said Shetler. “He
could use this research for his dissertation, really build a career
out of this.”

Upon
Varshney’s recommendation, Kebede said the next step for his
research after this summer will hopefully be to travel to Harar,
Ethiopia, for four to six weeks to study that specific environment
and do a pilot study, further applying Varshney’s
research.

– By Megan
Blank ’07

Editors: For more information about this
release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen
College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or
jodihb@goshen.edu.

###

Goshen College,
established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal
arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The
college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate
learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and
servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the
church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term
program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in
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and U.S.News & World Report’s
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